A special meeting of the Indonesian Ulema Council in Padangpanjang on Sunday concluded that smoking was haram or banned for children and pregnant Muslim women, and it was haram for Muslim men to smoke in public places. "Smoking is haram for children and pregnant women, for men doing it in public places and also for members of the Ulema Council," said meeting chairman H.M. Amin Suma as quoted by Antara state news agency.
Your comments:
The pornography law that was recently passed sets a precedent that pregnant women and children might use to justify their smoking.
If they say that they were corrupted by images of cigarette brands (tobacco advertising is not haram, apparently), or by the actions of male family members who continue to smoke, then all should be OK.
After all, who could avoid sinning when smokers and tobacco advertisers flaunt themselves in such a manner? What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander too. David
Jakarta
So typical! If it is too hard on men, just push it on to women. Islam is for all genders. Be fair, will you! Nina
I agree we need not follow fatwas. The old men dictating to others should go back to sleep, but we should all know that smoking kills and should be banned in public. The government needs to ban smoking and advertising. I have no problem with smokers killing themselves, a pity it takes so long for the smoke to kill them! John Wilfred
Well, if we try to look at this from a different angle, as to why those people issued this fatwa, maybe we will understand it differently.
As we know, Islam is the biggest religion in Indonesia but there are also FOUR other big religions followed by people in Indonesia. So it is no surprise if these people do not agree with this fatwa. Moreover, it will be difficult to erase something that is loved by so many people in the world (smoking, I mean) even if you try to stamp it out in a small area such as just in Indonesia.
Some people said why didn't the MUI at least try to impose heavy punishments for those involved in corruption? Why did they issue something that most people, including me, think is useless? The problem will be when the regulation is imposed on citizens; most of them will reject the punishment even if they are Muslims.
This is quite shameful. Don't look at this from the point of view that most of the people involved in corruption in Indonesia are Muslim, but try to compare it with other corrupt countries where Islam is not worshipped by most people. (See what I mean, right?)
In my opinion, it is true that smoking affects your health and, if you think about it, tobacco is not so different from marijuana. The difference is only in the dose. Let's say marijuana contains 100 percent of the substance that damages your body and tobacco maybe only 0.001 percent, but it is still the same thing.
Whether it is a sin or not, we don't know for sure since we are not a God, but if you think that smoking damages your body as well as disturbs the people around you then why don't you give up right now? Or at least try to cut down. Burning Angel
This is a very silly fatwa. So, it is OK for men to smoke and contaminate the air and for their pregnant wives and children to inhale the second-hand smoke, but it is a sin for the women and children to smoke themselves. It is really a travesty of the whole process of making fatwas. Muslims should just ignore the silly old men on the Ulema Council. T. Cotton
Pattaya, Thailand
Sounds like the decision you make when you are not making a decision; avoid the core issue. This, as expected, looks much more like politics than about any religious interpretation. Vice President Kalla's call to avoid creating any disturbance in the community has been heeded.
MUI has skirted around the issue of whether it is ok for Muslims to grow, sell, promote and smoke an addictive mood-changing drug with known serious health implications and potentially fatal outcomes.
By default, MUI has ruled that it is ok to smoke, to promote addiction, etc. and to hell with people's health. As such, they have declared themselves out of step with the real world.
Of course, it is the duty of the government of Indonesia to take responsibility for protecting people's health. Inaction or skirting around the issue as the MUI has done must be interpreted as failing to care for the people's welfare.
MUI has failed the people. The government continues to turn a blind eye. Unless the minister of health starts to take her job seriously then it will be up to the people themselves to educate the young on the dangers of smoking. Nairdah
It is ridiculous. The Ulema Council should have thought about more crucial problems in our country. Why didn't they publish a fatwa for the death penalty for corruption convicts, for example?
However, I believe that their voice is not God's voice. As a secular, free and democratic society, we as citizens don't have any obligation to implement it. We live based on the state law not sharia or Islamic law, especially that claimed by some fanatic clerics. Merdeka !!! God bless Indonesia
Ibnu Fatwa
